James brings the Heat, tops Lakers

LOS ANGELES – The Lakers' descent into infamy continues, and LeBron James was the one pushing them down Thursday night.

The circled game on the NBA calendar when the 2012-13 schedule came out arrived at Staples Center with the Heat in the Eastern Conference atop the standings on their side and the Lakers in the Western Conference ... not.

Then James dominated with repeated forays into the Lakers' paint and keyed Miami's 99-90 victory with 39 points on 17-of-25 shooting, seven rebounds, eight assists and three steals.

The Lakers took Coach Mike D'Antoni's pregame point of emphasis to move the ball quickly against Miami's swarming defense too literally and threw panicked passes all over the court, but Miami's poor jumpshooting kept the game close throughout. Despite Pau Gasol returning from a five-game concussion absence, the Lakers didn't have the bounce down the stretch to rally: Miami scored the game's final nine points.

D'Antoni jokingly talked about jumping out of his hotel-room window last week during the Lakers' five-game losing streak, but he said before this one that the Lakers' rough plight — unlike Miami's in the 2010-11 season — shouldn't be drawing the same kind of public derision.

About James saying the negativity for the Heat was worse, D'Antoni laughed and said about James and his 2010 free agency: "Probably because I don't think he handled 'The Decision' very well."

James handled the Lakers awfully well, including taking over defensive duties against Kobe Bryant in the final minutes and orchestrating a suddenly executing Miami offense. Meanwhile, Dwight Howard airballed a free throw, and Steve Nash shot off the side of the backboard on consecutive Lakers late-game possessions.

Announced as the top NBA All-Star vote-getter Thursday for the third time in his 17-year career — just ahead of James — Bryant paid a price for again sacrificing early shots while trying to get Howard involved on offense, as Howard prefers. Bryant shot just 8 for 25 from the field, scoring 22 .